Not quite racing but certainly going very, very fast. A team from the Isle of Man have lifted the WWorld Speed Record for a 500cc part faired bike to 203mph. Sooner them than me (although a fried of mine is father to one of the team)
Steve

Hooli wrote:I thought I'd heard something about that, well done to them It can't get much cooler than having a world record in your name.

Yes indeed, I was discussing this with another guy I know recently. Given the plethora of power and capacity ratings allowed at Bonneville there is an array to choose from. I thought the twin cylinder, air-cooled 250 two stroke would be a good class to try for. A much-modified X7 motor that's ported to the limit, with spannies and ceramic coatings on cylinder surfaces to reduce friction and then bolted into some sort of stretched frame with a tube type fairing wouldn't be that expensive to build surely? The bloke I was talking with was as enthusiastic as myself, though he pointed out he wouldn't want to risk lying prone over such a hand-grenade featuring pistons popping up and down in the midrif area. Hmm, maybe if the engine was canted forward to maximise cooling over the head then?

Hooli wrote:It can't get much cooler than having a world record in your name.

I looked into Land Speed Racing recently and some of it 's records are impressive and some are not.

1. There are still classes in which nobody has run, so if anyone enters them and completes their runs then they have an automatic "record".

2. As newer and faster motorcycles are produced, in some cases all someone has to do is enter a class with some new technology, complete their runs and viola, a "record", even though their machine has little to do with the type of machines it has "beaten". For instance a lot of records were set by old two-valve per cylinder British bikes back in the day, but at one point pushrod engines with four-valves per cylinder and much improved combustion chambers became available which are allowed to run in the same class the older technology ran in, so naturally the newer equipment sets a record.

3. It is expensive. There are a lot fast motorcycles and great tuners out there, but only a small percentage of them are going to be able to afford to get themselves and their bike to a LSR venue. LSR events require a membership in a club or sanctioning body, then there is a fee in the hundreds of pounds or dollars to run in each event and class. Add to that transportation, lodging, food etc.. In short the bikes and mechanics you see at a LSR event are not necessarily the fastest , they are the fastest that can afford to get to an event. Some can not afford to cross borders, continents and oceans, many can not afford to run at local venues.

With this perspective what is left that is really cool in LSR? To me it is the person running on a shoestring who has made a reasonable sacrifice to run in a competitive class using machinery that is not a technological trump card, which probably leaves just about nobody to applaud.....